ABSTRACT
For forty years, from 1933 to 1973, matters of water supply held the centre of the stage in Scottish water management, although it was not until the 1960s that it became an issue of any political significance. The need to reorganise the administration of water supplies was recognised in 1933 when drought highlighted the emerging problems; yet, although attempts were subsequently made to tackle particular difficulties and reorganisation became an object of policy in 1946, reliance continued to be placed on voluntary amalgamation. The basis for reorganisation existed from the late 1940s in the technical appraisals of Scottish water resources made by officials of the Department of Health for Scotland (DHS). Although these findings made a useful contribution to subsequent action, it was not until a change in political priorities in favour of regional development that the political will to action emerged and the possibility that shortages of water might frustrate development was recognised. The result was the Water (Scotland) Act 1967, and it is with that Act and its antecedents that this chapter is primarily concerned.
